A gray-blue sea of mist churned around Qin Yu, like a living abyss. Without hesitation, he plunged into the depths of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp. There was no solid ground beneath his feet, only layers of flattened and elongated spatial causality slowly flowing through the swamp.
The mist drifted along his protective aura, emitting extremely low and distant murmurs, like countless imprisoned souls turning over in their slumber, yet never truly awakening.
Almost simultaneously, the space outside the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp was forcibly smoothed out, and a silent, enormous silhouette slid into the swamp from the folds of the void. The head of the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon appeared first, followed by its gray-white body that stretched for thousands of miles.
The aura of Annihilation violently repelled the swamp's original mist; the sea of mist churned, collapsed, and reformed, yet it still could not stop its entry, as if this place was a destiny reserved for it.
As Qin Yu sped along, he sent out a wisp of his divine sense, whispering along the causal pathways of the swamp, attempting to touch the will that had once appeared in his sea of consciousness. But all that responded was a deeper silence in the mist; all echoes were swallowed by the dark fog, and even the judgment of whether or not it was heard was completely obliterated.
"Looks like I really will have to rely on myself."
The moment this thought settled in his mind, the oppressive feeling behind him suddenly surged.
The eyes of the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon shone brightly in the sea of mist, their crimson color like two branding marks embedded in the void. In the next instant, it did not close the distance again, but instead opened its mouth. There was no breath, no sound, only an invisible Formless wave of Absolute Thoughtlessness spreading from the center of the dragon's head— the Thought Severing Tribulation.
It wasn't an impact, nor a torrent of energy, but a denial of "connection itself." In that instant, Qin Yu clearly felt that his thoughts were still running, his consciousness was still thinking, but the response of his body, true essence, qi, and even the surrounding space to these "thoughts" was severed. It was as if his mind was sealed in a transparent cage, and he could only watch helplessly as reality slipped out of his control.
The fog created an extremely strange sense of dislocation in his eyes—one moment he felt he was moving forward, the next his body was suspended in place; he had the urge to defend himself, but felt no response from any force; even the most basic will to "displace" seemed to be sent to an unreachable destination.
This is a complete separation between "thinking" and "preservation".
Just as the fracture was about to spread to the Fate Soul level, Qin Yu's eyes suddenly calmed down. Without struggling or trying to prove "I still exist," he instead brought all his thoughts to a standstill in an instant. Deep within his sea of consciousness, the causal core that had been used countless times but had never truly wavered suddenly lit up.
He raised his hand.
It did not rely on physical "actions," but rather made a judgment directly at the level of destiny.
Heavenly Cause Judgment Sequence - Six Severances Seal - Fate Cause Sealing Mirror - Logic Abyss Core.
Without a sound, a transparent wheel, seemingly composed of countless overlapping causal cross-sections, unfolded before Qin Yu. At the center of the wheel was not a physical entity, but a bottomless Logic Abyss Core. All the "connection fragments" stripped away by the Thought Severing Tribulation were forcibly drawn back and fell into it the moment they approached Qin Yu.
At this moment, the scene seemed to be slowed down.
The wave of Absolute Thoughtlessness released by the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon spread out in layers in front of the Seal Wheel, but it was as if it had crashed into a Does Not Exist mirror—not blocked, but re-categorized. The severed thought-existence bond did not return to its original position, but was sealed in the Logic Abyss Core, forming an independent, closed causal chamber that could not continue to spread.
Qin Yu's body still hadn't regained its mobility, but the feeling of "about to completely lose control" was abruptly stopped. His thoughts were still isolated, and reality was still sluggish, but he was firmly anchored in a state of "not being denied," like a fixed point hovering on the edge of zero.
The sea of mist churned, and countless fine cracks and light patterns appeared on the surface of the seal. These were the remnants of logic forcibly stripped away by the Thought Severing Tribulation- Severing Calamity, constantly impacting the seal and emitting a near-silent yet heart-palpitating vibration.
For the first time, the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon paused its pursuit in the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp.
Its dragon head turned slightly, its scarlet eyes fixed on Qin Yu, as if it were "understanding" a form of resistance it had never encountered before—not confronting its power, but denying its "inevitable success."
Qin Yu slowly raised his gaze after the seal wheel was formed. His breathing remained steady, but the desire to escape was no longer evident in his eyes.
At this moment, the sea of mist deep within the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp seemed to be lowered by some invisible force. The gray-blue mist stopped churning and instead sank slowly as if it were losing blood, revealing the causal swamp below that had been repeatedly trampled and scorched by the power of Annihilation.
Qin Yu stopped.
His figure stood steadily at the boundary between the sea of mist and the void. His Fate Soul force no longer emanated outwards, but instead formed an extremely restrained yet sharp circuit within his body, like a sword yet to be drawn. He slowly turned around, his gaze falling on Thoughtless Stillness Dragon for the first time without flinching.
He clearly remembered that in that near-annihilational confrontation, the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon did not actively engage in battle. Instead, it was forcibly dragged and pushed by the Master Soul Dominion in an extremely brutal manner, blocking Chu Xianbing's ultimate Ultimate power. That was not an ordinary defense, but rather using the essence of the Severed Thought Realm to directly withstand the "Life Returns to the Stainless Realm · Supreme Fate Returns to the Limitless and Transforms Tribulation" of the Immaculate Realm.
At that moment, Chu Xianbing's supernatural power was not simply killing, but rather drawing upon the "Return to One" power of the Wheel of Heavenly Emanation to dismantle, reshape, and then erase the existence of his opponent. It was a judgment specifically targeting "existence itself," rather than an attack on the physical body, soul, or laws.
The Dragon of Absolute Thoughtlessness, which once blotted out an entire realm above the Heavenly Emanation Limitless Hall and caused the River of Destiny to break, no longer possesses its initial "unshakeable" demeanor.
Its massive dragon body still stretches across the sea of mist, but its winding shape, stretching for thousands of miles, presents a jarring sense of heaviness.
Large swaths of the gray-white, ashen scales lost their integrity. Many scales were no longer "peeled off and reborn," but were completely shattered into tiny fragments of thought, like pieces forcibly torn from the level of existence, hovering around the dragon's body, and slowly dissipating under the pull of the Annihilation aura.
The scales that had once devoured light were now covered with crisscrossing transparent cracks. These cracks did not bleed, but they constantly emitted an extremely strange fluctuation—these were causal wounds that had been forcibly torn open, the residual shocks left after the "Law of the Severed Thought Realm" was directly bombarded by the ultimate divine power of the Stainless Realm · Supreme.
Each expansion of the crack is accompanied by the collapse of a small section of space, which is then forcibly smoothed out within the origin of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp, creating a continuous internal drain.
The two horns of the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon were particularly mournful.
Of the two once withered yet stable horns of Sever Thought, one has completely broken off from the middle. The break is not a physical fracture, but a hollow "vacuum of thought." The fragmented fireflies of thought no longer disperse in an orderly manner, but surge and extinguish erratically, as if some kind of seal that has been forcibly pried open can no longer be closed.
The other dragon horn was also covered in cracks, and the horn was slightly tilted, causing a slight shift in the balance of the entire dragon head.
The most shocking thing about it is its eyes.
Those dark pupils, which were originally unfathomable and like Abyss of Thought Severance, were now torn into several ripples by two completely opposite colors: scarlet and gray-white. The scarlet was the residual control mark left by the Master Soul Dominion; the gray-white was the origin of the Severed Thought Realm trying to return to the original state of "no thoughts and no attachments".
The two forces constantly intersected and collided in the same pair of eyes, causing Thoughtless Stillness Dragon's vision to become noticeably sluggish and unfocused.
It let out a low growl.
It wasn't a deafening dragon's roar, but an Ultimate, almost intermittent hiss. The sound was swallowed by the mist the moment it left the dragon's throat, only creating tiny but dangerous ripples of Annihilation in the sea of fog. Wherever the ripples reached, the "existence" of the fog was thinned, presenting a semi-transparent, ethereal state.
Qin Yu's gaze sharpened slightly.
He clearly sensed that the aura of the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon was no longer stably at the Severed Thought Realm · Initial Stage. The oppressive feeling that transcended all existence and non-existence was continuously weakening and collapsing, being pulled back to a more "touchable" level— the Chaos Realm · Supreme.
This is a devastating blow.
Moreover, it is a severe injury that cannot be repaired on its own in a short period of time.
More importantly, Qin Yu clearly sensed that, for the first time, "hesitation" had appeared under that immense Law of Annihilation.
The Thoughtless Stillness Dragon slowly approached, but suddenly stopped a few dozen feet away from Qin Yu. Part of its dragon body was still instinctively locking onto Qin Yu, continuing the hatred and pursuit commands that had been forcibly instilled in it; but the other part began to show extremely subtle reverse fluctuations - not thinking, but a more primitive reaction that was closer to "survival instinct".
It was an abnormality stemming from the tearing apart of one's Absolute Thoughtlessness.
"Absolute Thoughtlessness" means having no options.
A crack signifies the first instance of "deviation".
Qin Yu did not move.
He simply stood there, letting the mist of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp around him, his gaze calm and focused, as if he were watching a ferocious beast that had finally been dragged into a level that was "understandable".
He was waiting. Waiting for the moment when, within the body of that Thoughtless Stillness Dragon, Absolute Thoughtlessness and instinct truly clashed head-on.
Qin Yu did not retreat further.
Deep within the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp, the mist surged like a colossal beast breathing slowly, while the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon swept across the void.
The dragon's massive body trailed layers of gray-white, Annihilation ripples, and wherever it passed, the "stable concept" of space was silently collapsing.
At that very moment, Qin Yu proactively released his own "anchor of existence" for the first time.
That wasn't an explosion of aura, nor a manifestation of cultivation, but rather an extremely precise declaration of one's Fate Soul—
"I am here." "I am still recognized by causality." "I still choose to exist."
The moment the anchor point was lowered, the heavens and earth seemed to tremble slightly.
The movements of Thoughtless Stillness Dragon exhibited a brief but undeniable disorder.
For the first time, its Fate Soul essence, which should have Emptiness and operated solely according to the Law of Absolute Thoughtlessness, was forcibly "called out."
The dragon's body suddenly stiffened. Then—
It was not a rational judgment, but an instinctive rage and confusion, like a torn abyss gushing forth from the cracks in its Fate Soul.
The grayish-white scales began to peel off irregularly, and chaotic, ethereal light surged from the cracks in the Horn of Sever Thought.
The crimson patterns suddenly spread across the once empty Abyss of Thought Severance, as if a "residual consciousness" had been forcibly awakened and was struggling.
The Thoughtless Stillness Dragon has gone out of control.
It raised its head and let out a low growl devoid of any emotion, yet powerful enough to freeze one's mind.
The next instant, the Ultimate supernatural power—"Empty Thoughts Enter Stillness"—descended.
In this moment, all existence "based on thought" between heaven and earth was illuminated.
It was not light, but an absolute "silent illumination".
Qin Yu clearly sensed that the power was attempting to strike directly at his core.
It is not the physical body, nor the outer shell of the soul, but everything he has relied on throughout his cultivation, Order Adjudication, and journey to this day:
Understanding cause and effect, control over one's Fate Soul, and a clear awareness of "who I am".
This is to let his "spiritual practice itself" backfire on him.
If it were any other powerful individual who had ascended to a high position through enlightenment, insight, or ideals, they would have watched helplessly as their cultivation died within their body, and then been dragged into the abyss of Absolute Thoughtlessness by that deathly silence.
But Qin Yu did not choose to fight against "Annihilation".
Just as that silence was about to permeate the Fate Soul Nucleus, a pre-prepared divine power quietly unfolded deep within his sea of consciousness.
--- "The Void Evolution Jiwu without light or sound."
His existence seemed to be gently lifted from "defined reality" by an invisible hand and placed into a Void Evolution state that was neither existent nor nonexistent, nor understood.
Immediately following, Qin Yu's mind shifted, but instead of "resistance," he chose deconstruction. The Three Forms of Fate Construction of Cause and Effect Deconstruction.
It's not about severing external forces, but about directly targeting a more fundamental point—the causal relationship between "Empty Thoughts Enter Stillness" and "the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon."
With the enhancement of the Void Evolution state, Qin Yu saw it clearly. He saw that the divine power was not a true "killing move."
Rather, it is an Ultimate corrective method that uses the law of the Severed Thought Realm to force the target to return to "no thinking, no desire, no attachment".
It was at this moment that he finally understood completely—the powerful being who had imprisoned the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon here.
From the very beginning, there was no intention to resolve it through sealing or Annihilation. The Spirit of Absolute Thoughtlessness cannot be simply erased.
The more suppression there is, the more unbalanced things become. The true "taming of the dragon"...
It is not suppression, not destruction, but coexistence. Using the Fate Soul as a bridge, we rewrite its way of existence.
It's not about making the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon lose its Absolute Thoughtlessness, but rather about keeping it within that Absolute Thoughtlessness.
Having a "coexisting object" to which he can anchor, Qin Yu slowly opened his eyes in the Void Evolution state.
His gaze was no longer hostile, nor did it convey a sense of conquest. Instead, it was an Ultimate calm confirmation.
I see. This wasn't a dragon that deserved to be killed.
Rather, it is a dragon whose very existence requires someone to share it. And this "person,"
At this moment, it was the first time it had truly seen the rift in its Fate Soul.